Alcoa Home Exteriors Inc. and Dayton Technologies LLC are joining forces to tackle the market for composite decking and railing.
Dayton Technologies will build one plant on its property in Monroe, Ohio, to handle engineering, material science and extrusion for the high density polyethylene and wood flour products. The product will be branded under the Alcoa name, whose officials will handle all commercialization.
``That plant will be functional by March,'' said Gary Acinapura, president of Alcoa Home Exteriors. ``It will eventually be big enough for 20 extrusion lines.''
The two firms will introduce deck and railing products in early 2004, but don't expect to see them at the International Builders Show in January. Alcoa Home Exteriors will not display at the construction trade's annual lovefest in Las Vegas.
Acinapura said products will be introduced throughout 2004, including those that complement siding and trim.
Alcoa and Dayton have a history together. In 1997, Alcoa sold Dayton to Deceuninck NV of Hooglede, Belgium. Dayton still extrudes profiles for Alcoa's Mastic window line at its 550,000-square-foot headquarters in Monroe.
``We're very compatible in our approach to market,'' Acinapura said in an Oct. 2 telephone interview. ``As big as Alcoa is, you can't do everything at one time. ... We had been more focused on our core business, but now we're ready to start stretching out and getting into new market segments.''
``We are joining forces to enter a growing sector of our business, and the timing couldn't be better,'' said Darwin Brown, chief executive officer of Dayton Technologies, in a news release.
